Stretching the life of jeans

Oh, the search for the one. The one that’s a perfect fit for you and makes you feel beautiful and sexy in any situation over and over again. It can feel like a string of bad dates. You excitedly buy a pair of seemingly perfect jeans only to find that after a few wears, the fabulous hugs of the curves turn into unflattering sags in all the wrong places as the fabric stretches and loses shape.

Luckily, denim companies and manufacturers are taking notice, constantly looking for new technologies in fabrics and finishes to complement the latest styles in jeans. And with the skinny trend not going anywhere anytime soon, that’s good news.

“You want to look as good at the end of the day as you do when you walk out in the morning,” said Hudson design director Stephanie Davis.

Hudson uses ISKO Reform fabrics in its jeans collection. Kutay Saritosun, senior marketing executive for ISKO – the world’s largest producer of denim, which also works with Diesel and MiH – said the high-performance stretch fabric has a strong hold on the body. At the same time, the blend of stretch fibers hidden in the cotton makes the jeans soft and comfortable.

“For someone who wears skinny jeans, that’s important,” Davis said. “Super skinny and skinny is what’s trending, so the Reform qualities are a big part of the collection.”

“Women want pants that will make them look good,” Saritosun said. “Reform, with its holding power, smooths out the body and makes you look one size smaller.”

Um, yes please.

Women also usually want to be on trend, and if you flip through just about any fashion magazine or blog, you’ll see light-colored, faded or even bleached jeans in for spring. That’s pretty typical for this time of year, but Saritosun said there’s a shift toward stretch fabrics in true denim and indigo looks.

“The darker you go, the more versatile your pants will become,” he said.

He said women in the U.S. are looking for denim influenced by men’s – strong, sturdy, multidimensional and authentic – but able to maintain its stretch to make bodies appear slimmer and sexier.

“Women gravitate more toward heavier fabrics because heavier fabrics will hold the body better together,” Saritosun said. “Women should look good, they should feel good and the fabric should not lose its form.”

That said, the trends within U.S. brands are still polarized, Saritosun said. He said women in the Los Angeles area are still very much into their jeggings, made out of much lighter fabrics, but warned it’s not always the most forgiving look.

“Jeggings are fantastic, but when you wear it, it shows everything,” he said. “If you’re not that (skinny) kind of girl, they don’t look flattering.”

Another trend getting mixed reviews is the boyfriend jean. Saritosun said women love it for the comfort and the many ways it can be styled, but not all men are sold on seeing their girlfriends sporting a pair.

Hudson’s spring trends include more vintage, moto details and pastels. The vintage look and the evolution of men’s heavyweight fabric into women’s softer versions is also what ISKO is releasing in its fall/winter 2014/15 collections along with high-shine, high-glam and leather finishes, but whatever style you choose, experts agree it has to fit well.